Regensburg 2019 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 21: Magnetic textures: Transport and dynamics I

MA 21.3: Talk

Tuesday, April 2, 2019, 14:30–14:45, H38

Designing skyrmion dynamics by anisotropic spin-orbit torques — •Jan-Philipp Hanke¹, Frank Freimuth¹, Stefan Blügel¹, and Yuriy Mokrousov^1,2 — ¹Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA, 52425 Jülich, Germany — ²Institute of Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany

Skyrmions are perceived to hold bright promises as nano-scale information carriers in energy-efficient technologies. This renders a rigorous understanding and reliable control of their dynamics by the spin-orbit torques vital. Using advanced ab initio methods [1,2], we assess the role of these current-induced torques for the dynamics of topological spin textures in magnetic trilayers and topologically non-trivial materials. We discover that the common interpretation of the skyrmion Hall effect as a phenomenon originating in the damping-like torques has to be reformulated, as anisotropic field-like torques can alter the dynamical properties of skyrmions drastically [3]. While increasing the velocity of skyrmions typically relies on driving larger currents, we further elucidate a promising alternative that exploits emergent nodal points forming at the Fermi energy of transition metals to move skyrmions efficiently with low current densities [4]. We acknowledge funding under SPP 2137 “Skyrmionics” and project MO 1731/5-1 of Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

[1] J.-P. Hanke et al, Phys. Rev. B 91, 184413 (2015). [2] J.-P. Hanke et al, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 87, 041010 (2018). [3] J.-P. Hanke et al, under review (2019). [4] J.-P. Hanke et al, Nat. Commun. 8, 1479 (2017).